Jnana closes $50 million financing to advance lead PKU program

Boston, USA-based start-up Jnana Therapeutics today announced the closing of a $50 million Series B financing, led by RA Capital Management, and included all existing investors, including Polaris Partners, Versant Ventures, Avalon Ventures, AbbVie Ventures and Pfizer Ventures.

Proceeds from this financing will enable Jnana to progress its lead program for the treatment of phenylketonuria (PKU) into clinical development, while advancing a pipeline of additional programs and continuing to invest in its innovative and validated RAPID platform for the discovery of small molecule therapeutics for hard-to-drug targets.

“This commitment and support from a strong syndicate of investors will enable the next stage of evolution for Jnana as we advance our broad pipeline of wholly-owned programs to the clinic and continue to expand the application of our platform,” said Joanne Kotz, co-founder, chief executive and president of Jnana Therapeutics. “We believe that Jnana’s lead program offers a differentiated approach to PKU with an oral small molecule, identified using our RAPID platform, that can be used to treat any PKU patient, notwithstanding age or PAH mutation,” Dr Kotz added.